By Caitlin Tilley, Health Reporter, DailyMail.com May 31, 2024 13:58, Updated May 31, 2024 15:43
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Americans and Canadians are traveling thousands of miles around the globe to visit a cosmetic surgery clinic in Turkey that is wowing people with the incredible transformations its clients have seen.
Stunning before and after photos of patients have been circulating on social media, with some looking decades younger.
But the results are so impressive that many are questioning whether they are in fact the real deal, and several plastic surgeons DailyMail.com spoke to said they were concerned the images might have been altered using artificial intelligence.
DailyMail.com also spoke to Dr Eli May, the Istanbul clinic’s lead surgeon, who claims the 2,000 graphic before-and-after images shared online are “not photoshopped”.
The hospital claims that Michael underwent seven surgeries to get the face he wants, including a facelift, neck lift, lower eyelid surgery, upper eyelid surgery, cheek fat removal, rhinoplasty, and hair transplant. According to the hospital’s Instagram, the hijab-wearing woman, known as Miss Direk, was photographed two years after the rhinoplasty, facelift, and blepharoplasty.
Esthe Hospital Dentistry and Cosmetic Surgery told DailyMail.com that the incredible transformation was simply the result of multiple cosmetic procedures, each of which produced ideal results.
But surgeons have accused authorities of using artificial intelligence to create the images, saying the lack of visible scars in the photos and a mismatched ear shape are “suspicious”.
One of the most surprising transformations was that of a patient said to be Michael, who, according to the beauty hospital, underwent a total of seven surgeries: a facelift, neck lift, lower blepharoplasty, upper blepharoplasty, cheek fat removal, rhinoplasty and hair transplant.
Blepharoplasty is a type of surgery that removes excess skin from the eyelids.
Professor Shiwei Liu, a computer scientist and AI expert at the University at Buffalo in New York, told the Daily Mail that there are clear signs in Michael’s photos that “point to an AI generation.”
Professor Shiwei Liu, a computer scientist and AI expert at the University at Buffalo in New York, told DailyMail.com that Michael’s photos show clear signs that “seem to suggest they were AI-generated.”
He pointed to a suspicious dark line on the right side of Michael’s neck and a fuzzy area below Michael’s left earlobe.
Professor Ryu also said that unless plastic surgery is used to completely replace the ears, the shapes of two people’s ears will be very different and, as ear biometry measures, are “unique to the individual.”
“It’s highly likely that these are not the same person,” Professor Liu said.
The esthetician made no mention of adjusting Michael’s ears.
New York City plastic surgeon Dr. Ellie Levine agreed that the ears look odd.
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“Before surgery, my earlobes were much fuller than they are now, so it’s difficult to reduce fat in the earlobes,” he says.
Dr Levine told DailyMail.com that the fact that the man had no visible scars on his face was concerning because “visible scars are left after face and neck lift surgery”.
“I’m a little concerned that you can’t see any scarring in this photo,” he said.
Dr. May, a surgeon at the clinic, explained that on the day of surgery, pre-op photos are taken with an iPhone.
He explained that the post-op photos were sent to him by the patients and were not digitally altered by the clinic.
The Canadian man had also had gastric sleeve surgery at another clinic a week before Dr May performed his facial procedure, and the surgeon suggested weight loss may have contributed to the dramatic change in his appearance.
“Most of these patients have lost at least 35 to 40 kilograms when comparing their pre- and post-op photos,” he says.
Another miraculous transformation was of a woman named Miss Direk, two years after undergoing rhinoplasty, facelift and blepharoplasty, according to the beauty salon’s Instagram.
According to Aesthetic Hospital, Mariam underwent laser skin resurfacing and a facelift, as well as a neck lift, upper and lower eyelid reshaping, fat injections and rhinoplasty. Nadia is pictured two years after her rhinoplasty, V-shaped jawline, cheek lift, under-eye bag rejuvenation and temporal lift, according to Aesthetic Hospital.
But the photos show a strikingly youthful, smooth face and a different eye color.
Dr Levine called the change “suspicious” and said subsequent photographs looked “heavily filtered”.
The change in eye color could be due to contact lenses, he said, but added, “That’s asking too much.”
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Dr Levine said the sides of the woman’s head were covered, leaving little visible around her face and potentially leaving her with significant unseen scarring.
Dr May said that while patients send in before and after photos, the clinic gives some instructions on how to take the pictures.
The person should be one meter away from the camera and in bright natural daylight.
She also said that the photo she posted to Instagram was taken at least a year after her surgery, as it takes that long for the surgery to fully heal.
According to Medical Departures, a website that compares prices at medical clinics around the world, a rhinoplasty at a beauty clinic can cost $4,000, while a facelift can cost around $6,000.
Chicago plastic surgeon Dr. David Hill told DailyMail.com that while the results look “stunning,” they’re “actually achievable.”
Dr Hill said evidence that Michael was the same person before and after was his iris, the coloured part of the eye.
“When I look at his left iris, I see the same characteristic color change before and after, which to me is probably the most telling indication that it’s likely the same patient,” he said.
“This transformation, while spectacular and identity-altering, is certainly achievable through plastic surgery.”
Souza had undergone plastic surgery to reshape her nose and her V-shaped chin, and Esthetique claimed that two years had passed between the sets of the photos.
But Dr Hill did not rule out the possibility that the “after” photo may have been edited, saying it was “difficult to say whether it accurately represents what the man actually looked like”.
“Disreputable clinics often use Photoshop or retouching to make scars less noticeable or look better,” he said, adding that this can give potential customers false hope.
“Despite the incredible differences, it’s possible the photo has been retouched.”
Many clinics will use different lighting, angles, hairstyles, and makeup to make the differences in photos more prominent and make your post-op photos look more flattering.
Social media users suggested that “before” photos could be manipulated to make someone look worse, for example by using a wide-angle lens to make features such as the nose appear larger.
Dr. Levine also noted that many rhinoplasty photos are taken very close to the patient, making the nose look wide and the eyes and cheeks look abnormal.
“If you follow at a more appropriate distance, [the abnormalities] It’s not there anymore.
The “after” photos are “definitely” filtered to make the patient’s skin look brighter and remove imperfections such as sunken eyes.
“These patients were having rhinoplasty and the surgery was good, but the before photos were deliberately made to look awful,” Dr Levine said.
Dr Levine adds that while many of the transformations shown on beauty salon pages are “probably real”, “if you meet the patient after the treatment, they will look completely different to how they look in the photos”.
Esthe Hospital has been contacted for comment.
